by LaJuan Tallo | 12/10/08

Three Northwest Mississippi Community College science students got the opportunity to see the results of their instructors’ research outside the classroom recently, as the three attended the annual meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science (TAS) in Nashville Nov. 20 - 22. The conference was held jointly with the Tennessee ScienceTeachers Association.

Students who attended were Samantha Carroll of Olive Branch, Jordan Brumbelow of Southaven and Toni Sultzbach of Horn Lake. Six instructors from DeSoto Center co-authored and gave three 10-minute talks on various subjects as part of the prestigious annual meeting, according to Dr. Ray Cox, science instructor.  In addition to Cox, other DeSoto Center instructors who attended and presented were Dr.
Kuntebommanahalli Thimmaiah, chemistry instructor; Dr. Augustinus Rinaldy, science instructor;  Dr. Larry Sylvester, biology instructor; Dr. Harold Simmons, science instructor; and Paul Grisham, biology instructor.

“Acridones Circumvent P-Glycoprotein-Associated Multidrug Resistance
(MDR) in Cancer Cells,” “Application of Epitope Peptide and Spacer Molecule for the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis,” and “Combating
Mathophobia: Dealing with Exponents” were the three presentations contributed by members of the DeSoto Center faculty.

“Going to the conference allowed these students to see and understand how science works.  They saw the presentation of research data at the level of publication.  This will allow them to see how the information in our textbooks actually got there.  And with this better understanding of research, they can decide if they want to go to graduate school and work on an advanced degree,” said Cox.

Northwest is a comprehensive two-year public community college which offers courses for academic transfer in addition to career and technical programs of study from three campus locations—Senatobia, Southaven and Oxford. For more information, call (662) 562-3222.